More than 22 percent of students on campus participate in Greek Life, and an average of 2,000 students participate in recruitment every year, Greek Life Coordinator Julie Drury said.

According to the Office of Greek Life website, “The Greek community at the University of Missouri was founded in 1869 on the principles of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Brotherhood and Sisterhood.”

The website also states the Greek community offers all members an outlet for leadership, opportunities for philanthropy and service as well as social opportunities.

Greek life consists of four councils: the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association, National Pan-Hellenic Council and Multicultural Greek Council.

The 27 chapters of IFC hold a formal recruitment before every fall semester. Formal recruitment took place June 24, but students interested in IFC will have the opportunity join an IFC chapter through informal recruitment.

“It’s a very informal process,” Drury said. “The best thing to do would be to search websites of chapters they are interested (in). (Prospective recruits) have to do a lot more work on their own. It’s not laid out for them.”

According to the website, during informal recruitment, chapters will contact potential members on an individual basis and invite them to different events.

After a potential member is contacted and has attended IFC events, one or more interested chapters have the option to extend an invitation to him to join their chapter. The prospective member will then choose which chapter he would like to join.

The website also assures potential members of IFC that they “should never feel pressured to join a chapter.”

Informal recruitment will continue throughout the summer and the academic year.

A total of 14 chapters belong to PHA and hold formal recruitment the week before fall courses begin, Aug. 14 to 20. If a student is participating in PHA’s formal recruitment, she will be able to move into her residence hall Aug. 14, three days before the regularly scheduled Aug. 17 move-in day.

According to the website, potential members participating in PHA formal recruitment will have the opportunity to meet with members of each PHA chapter.

“It’s a mutual selection process,” Drury said. “The women going through can make decisions about which chapters they would like to join and the chapters make selections (of prospective recruits).”

Registration for PHA’s formal recruitment ends July 22.

NPCH consists of eight African-American fraternities and sororities and does not hold a formal recruitment process for prospective recruits.

The council uses a recruitment process called intake, Drury said.

“Each organization has their own separate process,” she said. “For those organizations, students have to have a minimum of 12 credit hours before they can join, which is based on the national organization’s policy.”

Drury also said it is more common for students to join the NPCH chapters in the spring of their freshman year or as sophomores or juniors.

NPHC will have an information week in September for students to meet with the members of each chapter.

A total of three chapters make up MGC. The chapters under this council do not hold a formal recruitment process like that of IFC or PHA, but recruit and intake potential members under each chapter’s discretion.

“MGC does not have prerequisites like NPHC, but they do have a recruitment process unique to their own chapter,” Drury said.

According to the Greek Life website, some chapters of MGC openly recruit and some use a membership intake process, but “the best way to discover what chapter uses what process is to contact members from the chapter in which you are interested.”

Drury said the best advice she can give a student that wants to join a fraternity or sorority is to keep an open mind.

“For the men that want to join an IFC chapter my best advice would be to get to know as many chapters as you can,” she said. “You never know where your fit might be. The more women I see coming to recruitment in August saying ‘I’m going to join Chi Omega’ or whatever chapter they had in mind, it typically doesn’t work out as well for them as women who come in and have an open mind for the whole week.”